Marcia Wallace Dies at 70

Marcia Wallace, the actress from The Bob Newhart Show and the voice of Edna Krabappel, died on Friday.

Marcia Wallace starred as a secretary on The Bob Newhart Show. According to InsideTv, she appeared in 139 episodes from 1972-1978. The role of the secretary was specially written for her after she had numerous appearances on The Merv Griffin Show.

After The Bob Newhart Show, the actress was a guest star in shows like Murder, Magnum, P.I., Gimme a Break or She Wrote. Still, her defining role was the voice of Bart’s teacher, Edna Krabappel. Actually, Bart might be the only 4th-grader in the same class for 24 years.

According to Variety, Wallace was born in Creston, Iowa and after graduating college, she moved to New York to work on off-Broadway productions. She won an Emmy in 1992 for the outstanding voice of Mrs. Krabappel and she was also nominated as a guest actress in Murphy Brown.

Al Jean, the executive producer of The Simpson, said, “I was tremendously saddened to learn this morning of the passing of the brilliant and gracious Marcia Wallace. She was beloved by all at The Simpsons and we intend to retire her irreplaceable character,” to The Huffington Post.

Marcia Wallace was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985. She died one week before her 71 birthday.